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John Williams III
John Williams III (b. September 24, 1969), better known to audiences as John-John, was one of the many small children who appeared on the early seasons of Sesame Street. __TOC__ Williams joined the show at the age of three, after his mother answered an open call for Sesame Street kids. "The thing that clicked, my mother told me, was that I was able to relate to the Muppets. I wasn't afraid of them," Williams said in a 1998 interview. "And I remembered every single character's name." In another interview Williams said, "I think what they liked was that I communicated with the Muppets with eye contact, like they were humans."Martin, Brett. "Counting kid from 'Sesame Street' is 28," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reprint from The New York Times, March 31, 1998 He also could count in English, French, and Spanish. Though he appeared on the street segments with Mr. Hooper, Susan, and the rest, John-John's most notable segments were his honest, often unpredictable, interactions with Grover, Herry Monster, and other Muppets. John-John contributed to many of the best remembered Sesame Street Muppet & Kid Moments. John-John sang "Still We Like Each Other" with Grover on the 1973 album Sesame Street LIVE!, and also sang in the children's chorus on that album. John-John once participated in a game of "Here Are Some Things", in which he pretended to be Bob while Bob pretended to be John-John and answered the question.Episode 0702Sesame Street Unpaved page 152 As a young man, Williams (nicknamed John John by his mother after John F. Kennedy Jr.) joined the Air Force, and was stationed at Laughlin AFB in Texas.Ramos, Cindy. "[http://infoweb.newsbank.com/elementary/articles/TV2.htm Grover San Antonian's 14 years on Sesame Street influenced his life]", San Antonio Express-News. May 12, 1998. He made a special appearance in the 1989 TV special Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting, where he reunited with Herry Monster. A 1998 interview in the San Antonio Express-News described a funny moment in Williams' relationship with his wife: As of 1998, Williams and his wife resided in San Antonio with their two children, and he was working on establishing himself as a Tejano singer, following in his parents' entertainment footsteps (his mother was a jazz singer, and his father was a bassist for Doc Severinsen's Tonight Show band). Sketches Episodic appearances * Episode 0673 * Episode 0702 * Episode 0711 * Episode 0804 * Episode 0871 John-John: A Case Study In his 1974 book Children and Television: Lessons from Sesame Street, Gerald S. Lesser closely examines the interactions between children and Muppets, and the feelings experienced by children upon successfully learning or grasping a concept, what he terms "the power of the ordinary." Dr. Lesser uses the counting scene with John-John and Herry as a prime example. Lesser's memory is slightly faulty, however. In the actual sketch, John-John proceeds blithely along until he reaches 16. After a few moments, Herry feeds the number to John-John, who proceeds to count confidently to nineteen, at which point he asks Herry what number comes next. Herry then gives John-John a moment to think, and he comes up with the answer all on his own. Sources __NOWYSIWYG__ Category:Sesame Street Cast